Sunday, 12 August 2007

Wonga Beach

First to see the sea and say it! Now back on the coast we had the sounds of the ocean instead of the bush. We arrived at Wonga Beach on Tuesday for a three night stay close to the Daintree area. This time instead of a kangaroos we have three male and three female peacocks who stroll in an out of the caravan areas, never a dull moment!On Wednesday we went for a walk through a forest up in the Daintree which was recommended by the caravan park operator. We drove from Wonga beach up to the Daintree village and then drove onto a private property called River Home. From there armed with our maps for which we paid $10 each as entry to the property, camera and water (unfortunately, we forgot the Aerogard, oh dear!) we set off. Our trek took us through grazing country with droughtmaster cattle for company and suddenly into the forest. It was absolutely magnificent and we took our time enjoying all the attractions indicated on the map. At the end of the forest we came to a beautiful waterfall complete with fish and tortoises. We had been told we could take bread to feed the fish and they were certainly waiting for us. As soon as Ian threw the crusts in they were jumping out of the water to grab them. The tortoises were a little reticent or frightened of the voracious habits of the fish and waited until they had had their fill before coming out for their share. It was a lovely experience and we reluctantly returned to the car nearly three hours later, again forging (well stumbling across, or in my case falling in!) three little creeks. We could have taken our shoes and socks off but what the heck they dried out later back at the van.On our return we stopped at the end of the street from the caravan park and watched the harvesting of fish from a large fish farm. We had ordered fresh barramundi at the caravan park and figured that this was where it was coming from. We were fascinated by the process of coaxing the fish with nets attached at each side of the pond by quad bikes which slowly travelled down the length of the ponds. At the end of the pond the nets were anchored across the front and the staff in wet suits scooped the fish into boxes. On Thursday we enjoyed the best fish we have ever tasted!On Thursday we went up further, crossing over the river by barge and took another self paced tour at The Discovery Centre. This was great too and we took advantage of the personal audio guides which you carry and press to listen to information relevant to the particular place you are standing at. We even remembered the Aerogard which was probably a bit late because all our best bits are covered with mossie bites already! The audio guides also had an indigenous interpretation of each station which was fascinating and we learnt a lot about traditional tucker and medicines and also agricultural practice. We were looking for the cassowary bird but the closest we came was this sign warning us to be careful and to ensure we were “chilled out. not flat out” to preserve this endangered species. Very clever local interpretations of a speed hump sign!Onward now for a couple of lazy days at Mareeba doing very little as the weather is not expected to be very favourable.

3 comments:

Pete and Dawn
said...

Hi! Well, i am appalled that there have been NO comments in quite a while! How r u guys going? Did i mention it is just 5 more big sleeps till my grand adventure with Dawn? We can't wait and actually only one more shift at work till departure! I have only been able to practice pack three times so far so i'm worried i might be a little underprepared. hehe! Anyway, miss you guys and looking forward to some more stories and adventures from you soon!

Hello Martins. Looks like you are having a great time and have experienced a great number of places. Emma is contacting COGS to see if you can get some more time off work as the girls have settled in well and dont want to shift.Not much rain in the last month so the floods will come when you return to shepp. been quiet on the fire front-Craig lapsley has resigned and gone to a job with the emerency services departmenton big bucks- Garry Cook from R23 has gone to work with the rural amb vict in wang as a regional manager. JH has applied for the job in melb and should be in with a good chance. We fly out tomorrow at 3.45pm for manchester via singapore. some time in uk cotswolds-london then to paris 2 days hire car to germany belgium and back down through the Somme and visit graves of relatives- then to Rome 2 days -to Istanbul and then to kusadasi where we catch up with Ann&AD for 7 days in Turkey then to singapore for 4 days break then home Pretty busy but all will go well once we master left hand drive cars in europe. Maree has only 15kgs of luggage so she is doing well we will email you from somewhere on our trip Have a great time! ps. Chris & Stocky dropping in for a quiet red tonight The news has been covering the rutherglen wieries and their need to change the names of mucat port and tokay so we may neeed to stock up on the original drop before they have a name change andrew & maree

Hi! Seeing as how you are enjoying your holiday so much and remain in the middle of NOWHERE, i should tell you that i am just finishing my shift now (LAST one before holidays). I suppose i should also tell you that i quit my job in emergency yesterday and i start a job in ICU on 24th September. YAY! Oh well! Hope to here from you soon!